World War II Database

Tatsuta Maru arrived at Lourenço Marques, Portuguese East Africa (now Maputo, Mozambique). The nearly 1,000 interned Allied personnel aboard were exchanged with the British for Japanese diplomats and supplies. She also took on 48,818 Red Cross parcels meant for Allied prisoners of war currently in Japanese custody. ww2dbase [Main Article | Tabular Record of Movement | CPC]

Oberstleutnant Ernst K¸hl was named the commanding officer of the German Kampfgeschwader 55 wing. ww2dbase [CPC]

British ship Empire Kumari, damaged by German submarine U-375 on the previous day, sank in Haifa Bay, Palestine. ww2dbase [CPC]

German submarine U-511 attacked Allied convoy TAW-15 with two torpedoes 15 miles east of Haiti at 0629 hours, sinking British tanker San Fabian (26 were killed, 33 survived), sinking Dutch tanker Rotterdam (10 were killed, 37 survived), and damaging US tanker Esso Aruba; Esso Aruba was beached at Guantanamo Bay to prevent sinking but she would later be repaired. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

8 Japanese dive bombers escorted by 12 Zero fighters attacked the Gili Gili airfield at Milne Bay, escorted by 12 Zero fighters, causing minimal damage; 1 Japanese aircraft was shot down by Australian Kittyhawk fighters. At 2000 hours, Japanese attacked Australian troops at Gama River on the Milne Bay coast, killing 43 and driving the Australians back. In land, along the Kokoda Track, Japanese troops made advances at Isurava and Australian 2/16th Battalion was dispatched from reserve to reinforce the defenses. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

British Western Pacific Territories

Jacob Vouza was captured by Japanese troops of the Ichiki Detachment, for possessing an American flag, on Guadalcanal. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

France

A tractor factory in France, previously owned by French Jew Robert Rothschild, was turned over to German firm Friedrich Krupp AG. ww2dbase [CPC]

Admiral Scheer approached Port Dikson in northern Russia at 0105 hours, intending to attack the command center of the Soviet Northern Sea Route with a 180-man landing party, not knowing the port was well-defended with 50 NKVD troops, 300 militia, 2 anti-tank guns, 1 anti-aircraft gun, 1 750mm howitzer, and large caliber coastal guns. As Admiral Scheer approached to bombard, Soviet flagship Dezhnev was disabled at 0145 hours (7 were killed), followed by Soviet ship Revolutionary. To Admiral Scheer's surprise, 152mm coastal guns opened fire; although the Soviet coastal gun crews could not see through the thick smoke from Dezhnev and Revolutionary and could only fire in Admiral Scheer's general direction, it was enough to force Admiral Scheer to break off the attack. At the end of the engagement, Port Dikson saw its radio station, oil depot, coal storage, and power station damaged or destroyed. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

In addition to being responsible for the defense of Stalingrad in southern Russia, Georgy Zhukov was appointed as Stalin's First Deputy Commissar for Defense. ww2dbase [Main Article | TH]

German 16th Panzer Division, out of fuel to move further, dug in north of Stalingrad, Russia to wait for the German 6th Army to catch up to reinforce its position. 16 miles south of Stalingrad, German 4th Panzer Division made slow progress due to heavy resistance near Lake Sarpa. ww2dbase [Main Article | CPC]

"Goddam it, you'll never get the Purple Heart hiding in a foxhole! Follow me!"

Captain Henry P. Jim Crowe, Guadalcanal, 13 Jan 1943

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